Let’s Drink To That

Another belated post. LoL. I’ve been meaning to post about my musings as the year got underway but was just too damn lazy to do so.

First of all, I was feeling melancholic at the start of the year. This was mainly due to the reason of me not making it to the sendoff of my brother Ray. He had been arranging his work papers to Dubai during the 2nd half of last year and before the year was over, he got word that he’d be leaving early in 2009. He will be there for a 2-year work contract. When he got word that his final travel date would be January 7, he immediately texted me asking me when I’d be home. My base off from work would not be until the 10th so I asked him to delay his departure so that we’d still see each other before he leaves. There was no way I could escape from my work schedule and I was in Kidapawan that time.

Emotionally, I didn’t know how to describe how it felt thinking that he’d be leaving soon. Growing up separated by just 2 years (I am older, but I could easily pass off as younger than him..LoL), there was the usual sibling rivalry. It even is funny now that I think of the memories. My brother and I used to sleep in 1 bed together when we were still little. He was malikot when he slept, often kicking and turning about throughout the night, and I’d be awakened by this trait of his. At times, I’d punch him when this happened. Naturally, he would be at the losing end since I was awake, while he wasn’t..LoL. We weren’t that close growing up as I think I sort of looked at him as competition. Even in sports, we both were very competitive. I was even closer to my friends and classmates than I was with him. Oftentimes, we couldn’t converse without one eventually raising his voice. This did not get by without our parents noticing and numerous times, they even brought this to our attention. Blood was thicker than water, they told me.

As far as I remember, the turning point came when we were separated from each other for a long time, when he decided to work in Manila as a callcenter agent. When he came back after that, things were different. I couldn’t quite describe how, but it was just that. We were more gentle with each other. Another thing that brought us closer to each other was the game of badminton. We became partners and on a number of occasions, we went out of town to on road trips to join badminton tournaments. Yes, the usual conflicts between us were still there, but somehow, we were already communicating and it was easier to talk things over, unlike our situation before. When I was assigned in Bacolod, he’d text me whatever was happening back home, sometimes also to blow off some steam. I guess our bonding developed at that point. It came at a later part in our lives, but I think what was important was it did.

..1st runner up during our first tournament..

The whole family went to Cebu to send him off at Mactan International Airport last January 7..while I had to be contented with being passed around and talking to everybody on the mobile phone while they were at the pre-departure area. My brother is now an OFW.

Blood indeed is thicker than water.

Ingat always dinha brod!

..sometimes I find myself whacking the shuttlecock in my dreams..

One of the avenues I resort to in order to stay fit and keep my weight down is badminton. Well, you could say I am a badminton addict, having started playing the game with Borski since December of 2005, shifting from my previous sport of lawn tennis. Before I got transferred to Bacolod, we used to play a lot. First we did it thrice a week (M-W-F), and then graduating to being full-fledged addicts, playing 2 hours 7x a week.

..only 1 man was left standing after the count..

We eventually dropped the Sunday schedule as we were already being reprimanded by our dad for being late for our regular Sunday family rosary. Haha..talk about being addicts.

Being into lawn tennis before had its pros and cons. On the positive side, i had no problem with eye-hand coordination and I had no problem whacking the shuttle as if there was no tomorrow..lol.The only problem was that with badminton, it was more of wrist action and I was used to using my whole arm for power in lawn tennis, so during the first few months, my shoulder was so sore that sometimes in the middle of the game, I would find my dominant hand no longer able to lift the racket up. I have since solved this bit of problem with combination of practice and some weight training.

..delicate hands at work..

With regard to footwork, with badminton, the footwork was opposite that of lawn tennis. In badminton your dominant foot would be in front when playing a net shot, while the opposite was true for lawn tennis. Sometimes I still am guilty of this fault as I was quite used to my lawn tennis stance.

Whenever I am on days off, I would always take advantage of the chance to sweat it out and play with the gang. Last Thursday, however, I think I overdid it (plus I think I didn’t stretch enough prior to playing) and found myself cutting short my scheduled play time and heading home earlier than our supposed 10pm end time.

..the human body can only stretch so far..

I think I overstretched myself reaching for the shuttle and found myself feeling a “needle-like poking pain” in my left lower back, just immediately above my hip. It was the first time I felt pain this much. Bending over forward was really hard. Rarely would I pass up an opportunity to play one more game, but that evening, I found myself raising my hand in surrender everytime they would call me up for another game.

The next day, I had to go the blind massage clinic for a “hilot” session. Boy was I glad that Ruel (our suki) was able to work magic with his hands as I felt relieved after that. There is still a little bit of pain left, but already less compared to the one I felt last Thursday night.

..diha..diha..kana..diha dapit..

Whew! I guess I’d have to acknowledge soon that I am feeling the telltale signs of aging…for now, I am still in denial..hehehe